Agoraphobia

HC Deb 21 May 1974 vol 874 cc116-7W

Mr. Greville Janner

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a special grant for research into agoraphobia.

Mr. Gerry Fowler

The Medical Research Council already supports studies on agoraphobia at its Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, Edinburgh, and is giving long-term grant support to a clinical trial on the treatment of phobic disorders at the Warneford Hospital, Oxford and for therapeutic studies of resistant neuroses, including phobias, at the Institute of Psychiatry, London.

The council is also carrying out basic neurobiological studies which may throw light on the problems of agoraphobia. Other relevant research is being carried out in university departments with support from University Grants Committee funds.